You're here reading Lifehacker.com - quite possibly in a feed reader or using Firefox - so the hacks in Chapter 9 of Lifehacker the book won't be very revelatory. To you. But this chapter's for your brother-in-law who pulls you aside after dinner and asks you what the heck RSS is, anyway.

Mastering the use of a web browser, finding what you need quickly, navigating engines and indices, determining a set of trusted sources, and judging the quality and authority of new sources are all skills anyone who uses the web to his advantage needs. In effect, on the web, you are your own personal research librarian.

After the jump, chapter 9's list of hacks adorned with merry holiday hyperlinks.

Hack 68: Google Like a Pro (Web, Easy)

"Google's single, one-line input box conceals a host of functionality that can narrow your results to exactly what you need. "

"This hack points you to several of the best mashups that can help you adjust your commute home from work for traffic, decide where to live, help you find a nearby used car for sale, and figure out how far your jog across the bridge this morning really was."

"Web sites go offline. They move, occasionally suffer from temporary unavailability or errors, or become slow to respond because of technical difficulties or a period of high user demand. In those cases, when you need the information right away, you need a mirror of that web site's content."

"Now that you've tricked out your copy of Firefox with extensions, bookmarklets, sets of bookmarks, and Quick Searches, the last thing you want to do is have to set it all up again at another computer. If you get a new computer, or want to transport your settings at home to the office, a handy utility called MozBackup can help."

"When you find information on the web at a site you've never seen before, it's difficult to assess how trustworthy that source is. Although ultimately the decision is yours, there are several services that provide information about other web sites that can help you decide."

Hack 78: Have a Say in What Google Says About You (Web, Medium)

"Someone out there's trying to find information about you right now, whether it's a potential employer, date, or a long lost friend. What happens when she Googles you?"

"Collecting bookmarks just isn't enough when you're doing serious web research. Web pages disappear, or the information you need is just one paragraph halfway down the page, or you want to annotate a page with your own notes for later reference."